2024 Pacers Summer League: Sophomores (Patreon)

Taking a look at what to watch for from the second-year players and veterans

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

Ahh yes, July. Perhaps the most hectic month of the NBA calendar when, in addition to what has been the slow burn of free agency, rosters chock-full of young players and short on familiarity come together in the scorching heat of Las Vegas, playing basketball in an environment that tends to breed bucket-getting. For the Pacers, who appear to be running back nearly the same roster as last season, the week of exhibition play should provide an early glimpse of whether and to what degree the team can maintain and/or build on their momentum from last season via internal development or perhaps the eventual need for consolidation.

After cracking the eight-man rotation in the playoffs, there's no telling how many games Ben Sheppard or some of the other longer tenured players on the roster will end up playing, but there's plenty to be learned from however long they do. As such, after already covering the rookies, what follows is an attempt to provide a guide of one micro-skill and/or macro-concept to watch for all of the second-year players and veterans who have direct connections to the team either via standard contract, qualifying offer, or two-way deal.

So, without further ado, let's preview summer!

Oscar Tshiebwe - Spatial awareness 

During his rookie year, Oscar Tshiebwe set the G League's rebounding record with an average of 16.2 per game in 23 games, while also breaking the single-season Mad Ants franchise records for total rebounds (530), offensive rebounds (200), and defensive rebounds (330). Needless to say, he was a rebounding machine. In fact, a putback from Tschiebwe was worth more points per possession (1.182) than any other play-type for the Mad Ants. The only problem is, in order to maximize his relentless pursuit of the glass, he generally needs to be near the glass, which means just as he can function like a magnetic force field, pulling in every ricochet in sight, he can also at times appear as though he is the object being magnetized, unable to pull himself away from the confines of the paint. This is especially the case against the pick-and-pop.

Just look at these possessions from his rookie season with the Mad Ants, in which he was named the G League Rookie of the Year. When defending at or above the level of the screen, he has a tendency to completely lose track of the screener, automatically recovering to the paint even when the roll-man has popped out to the perimeter. Then, once he finds his place, he generally contests with a short closeout.

With the Pacers, he was also likely to require tags (at times, even from both the low-man and the single-side) to cover for his poor angles and positioning.

Given that the team recently signed James Wiseman to a two-year contract, Tshiebwe doesn't exactly look poised for a promotion at third-string center -- especially since his value on defense comes with his team forcing misses and the Pacers don't often force enough. To that point, although Indiana still ranked 24th in opponent offensive rebounding rate after trading for Pascal Siakam, they also ranked 28th in first-chance points allowed per 100 possessions, which means in order for Tshiebwe to finish stops with rebounds, he needs to show that he can make some sort of an impact against ball-screens in manufacturing stops, whether in the pipeline for the Pacers on a two-way contract or (more likely) his next team.

Jarace Walker - Physicality + Playing to scheme 

At Summer League media availability, Jannero Pargo told reporters that "Jarace Walker is a guy that we really challenged to pick up his energy and his effort." Likewise, during his regular radio spot on 1075 the Fan's Wake Up Call, Rick Carlisle made clear that a lot for Walker will hinge on "hard play" and the need to demonstrate that he can play with a "high motor" and "high level of physicality," while also showing that he can rebound and take on a defensive match-up. According to Carlisle, Walker worked on his conditioning for three weeks leading up to mini-camp alongside assistant coach Jim Boylen, just as Isaiah Jackson and Jalen Smith did last summer.

Positional size matters in the NBA, and Walker has that at the small forward position, along with everything he brings with his shot-making, vision, and feel, but he's going to have to fight his way into the rotation. After all, if the starting lineup remains the same, with T.J. McConnell, Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin, and Isaiah Jackson rounding out the bench, the Pacers will already be at a nine-man rotation without factoring in Ben Sheppard, who Carlisle cited for starring in his role and leading the team in net rating during the playoffs, let alone Walker. For Walker to emerge from the depths of all that depth as one of few wing-sized wings on the roster, he'll give himself a chance to crack the rotation if he plays to scheme with physicality. That means, no helping one-pass away at the nail when defending against elite scorers.

No overcommitting to go for steals.

And no hyper-aggressive stunts from the ball-side corner without maintaining vision of the corner.

Meanwhile, if he's going to eventually become the long-term answer against wings in an Eastern Conference that has seemingly loaded up on wings at the top of the standings, then he can't be quite as reliant on his sly, deft hands to stay in front, which also showed up at the G League level.

There's been progress in some of these areas. Here, for example, he stunts from the ball-side corner with a purpose, masking for Pascal Siakam's imperfect recovery angle, without giving up access to the rim or an open corner three.

That's better! Along with the tweaks he already made to his shot, if he can continue to do that and perhaps convert more of his runners into leveraged shots at the rim in the half-court, he'll be more likely to make himself a factor next season while also potentially addressing an area of need for the Pacers. Overall, as part of a projected starting lineup with Quenton Jackson, Ben Sheppard, Kendall Brown, and Oscar Tshiebwe, he shouldn't be overextended like he was last summer to play roles he isn't likely to fill at the next level, just as he also doesn't need to overextend himself, breaking from scheme, in order to prove that he's ready to play a role at the next level.

Ben Sheppard - letting the ball fly 

Interestingly enough, whereas Jarace Walker was drafted for his defense as a utility player and ended up showing more immediate progress with his shot, Ben Sheppard was mainly billed as a shooter who found his way onto the floor largely because of his defense. As a rookie, Sheppard was one of the best on-ball defenders on the roster, pressing up on screens to cut-off driving angles and/or veering into the legs of the screener and projecting his presence larger than he is when he couldn't get back in front. Granted, he didn't quite have the length to contest in the Eastern Conference Finals when Jayson Tatum was mismatch hunting and creating separation, but he covers ground in a hurry out of scramble situations, and he also makes every effort to hold his ground against bigger bodies. Put simply, there's a reason why the Pacers surrendered 1.121 points per chance with Bennedict Mathurin as the ball-handler defender in combination with Myles Turner, compared to just 0.837 with Sheppard.

Still, the Belmont product needs to make shots, which didn't exactly happen in the Eastern Conference Finals when he shot just 1-of-12 from three. Of course, making shots is also dependent on taking shots -- which he occasionally let fall by the wayside in favor of keeping the ball moving. By general rule, the Pacers automatically trigger making the extra pass out of skip passes to the corner so as to punish the X-out rotation on the weak-side. Here, for example, with Evan Fournier taking first pass, Sheppard moves the ball faster than the defense can rotate, drawing the first closeout to force an even longer closeout to Doug McDermott as the more seasoned and proficient shooter.

In essence, he passed out of a small advantage for a much bigger advantage. Still, that's a fine line, as he also needs to recognize when the advantage is his. All too often in those situations his eyes have a tendency to be fixated on where the ball is headed next rather than glancing at the rim. This needs to be a shot.

Otherwise, the defense might not continue to closeout this hard to him on the catch.

For the season, Sheppard was almost as quick to pass out of the corners (76) as he was to shoot on passes from the corners (118). Overall, Sheppard can rarely be faulted for not playing within the scheme on either end of the floor -- but he can do so almost to a fault. In the city of electric lights, he needs to show that he can multiply the advantage of his teammates by yielding to the greenlight and not just them.

Kendall Brown - Hiding in plain sight

Alright so, Kendall Brown obviously isn't a sophomore. This will be his third go-around at Summer League for the Pacers, but he's still technically under contract for next season -- although none of the money is guaranteed. Last season, Brown shot 0-of-6 on jump-shots for the Pacers and 26.4 percent from three in the G League. Tellingly, whenever the Pacers had a big lead and he was on the floor during garbage time, it wasn't uncommon for him to become a resting place. Here, before the Hawks called it quits with their starters in the regular-season finale, Trae Young could be seen guarding Brown, as a 6-foot-7 wing.

And, here's the thing: There wasn't a consequence. The Pacers didn't use him as a screener or a hand-off operator. He didn't duck-in. The end result was largely the same as the static screen shot, with Trae Young mostly just chilling. That's tough. As an archetype, raw, non-shooting, athletic wings have a tendency to get played off the floor in the playoffs. Just look at the Finals rosters over the last five seasons. The only role players who have shot below 30 percent from three while attempting fewer than 4.0 threes per 36 minutes are Maxi Kleber, who was ramping up from injury, and Derrick Jones Jr., who was ignored with aplomb by the Celtics above the break, and Gary Payton II who played with Steph Curry (enough said). The fact of the matter is, teams are generally more apt to hide weak-links who could be targeted on defense than they are to work around defense-first or defense-only players who get ignored on offense.

The Pacers need wing-sized wings, of which Kendall Brown certainly has the measurables, but his defense isn't so sticky that he should expect to stick around without finding other means to force defenders to stick to him at the other end of the floor.

Quenton Jackson - Elbow Grease (both with spacing and doing dirty work)

Jackson also isn't a second-year player, but he finished the season on a two-way contract for the Pacers and received a two-way qualifying offer, which means he still has a chance to stay in the team's pipeline in some capacity. Like Brown, he doesn't exactly space the floor when he isn't shooting, but he makes himself a threat as a cutter and has a strong sense for slipping screens to compensate for his lack of consistent range. Moreover, for a Pacers team that shifted more often to playing with inverted spacing, he also has the athleticism to stand and finish in the dunker's spot. Here, for example, he leaps off two feet against a 6-foot-11 center.

That's against zone, but if he was playing in a hybrid lineup where the ball gets entered to Siakam at the elbow with shooters on both sides, it's at least plausible to see how his "spacing," with a guard deliberately positioned to protect the rim, could be more viable than what has, to this point, been the case with Brown. Plus, although Jackson only played 11 total minutes for the Pacers, it seemed notable that he could be seen applying full-court pressure, even with a 40-point lead.

Of course, he also got crossed over and ended up going wrong-footed a few seconds later, but the point stands that he was quick to pick up the ball, which matters for a Pacers team that ended up logging more possessions of press defense (400+) during the playoffs than any team in the last 15 seasons of tracking data. That said, on a roster that already includes Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, and T.J. McConnell as ball-handlers without accounting for Tristen Newton, Jackson is still going to have his work cut out for him to remain with the Pacers, even if he's willing to do the dirty work as an explosive cutter.